Should the rules on vaping be tightened to better protect young people?

Full bill summary & link to official bill page

The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Amendment Bill (No 2) amends the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990 with a package of measures aimed mainly at stopping young people from taking up vaping. Its central changes are a ban on the manufacture and sale of disposable, single-use vapes (including non-rechargeable, non-refillable devices and prefilled pods and tanks); tighter retail rules so vaping products and their advertising cannot be seen from the street, inside general stores or on websites, pushing sales toward dedicated specialist vape shops; and distance rules keeping new specialist retailers away from places like early childhood centres and schools. It also sharply increases penalties, with fines for illegally selling to under-18s rising to as much as $100,000 for companies, and large fines for breaching the disposables ban. It affects vape retailers, dairies and petrol stations, manufacturers, and young people.

This is a Government bill advanced through the associate health portfolio. The argument for it is that youth vaping has climbed to worrying levels, that cheap and colourful disposable vapes are especially easy for teenagers to access, and that banning them and toughening penalties will curb underage uptake while still leaving regulated vaping available to adults trying to quit smoking. The argument against is that prohibition may push demand toward an unregulated black market or back to cigarettes, that removing an easy switching option could slow some adult smokers' efforts to quit, and that the rules impose real costs on small retailers. Others argue from the opposite direction that the measures should go further, for example on flavours and nicotine levels.

See the Parliament.nz ↗ site for the full bill.